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ARTICLE 1: The Nature of Catholic Social Teaching 1.
The Church as Mother and Teacher I. The Church as Mother an Teacher 1.
The Catholic Church has been established by Jesus Christ as mother
and teacher of nations, so that all who in the course of centuries
come to her loving embrace, may find salvation as well as the fullness
of a more excellent life. To this Church, the pillar and mainstay
of the truth (cf. 1 Tm 3:15), her most holy Founder has entrusted
the double task of begetting sons unto herself, and of educating
and governing those whom she begets, guiding with maternal providence
the life both of individuals and of peoples. The lofty dignity of
this life, she has always held in the highest respect and guarded
with watchful care. 2.
Doubtless, this most serious question demands the attention and
the efforts of others besides ourselves to wit, of the rulers of
States, of employers of labor, of the wealthy, aye, of the working
classes themselves, for whom We are pleading. But We affirm with
out hesitation that all the striving of men will be vain if they
leave out the Church. Manifestly, it is the Church that draws from
the Gospel the teachings through which the struggle can be composed
entirely, or, after its bitterness is removed, can certainly become
more tempered. It is the Church, again, that strives not only to
in struct the mind but to regulate by her precepts the life and
morals of individuals, that ameliorates the condition of the workers
through her numerous and beneficent institutions, and that wishes
and aims to have the thought and energy of all classes of society
united to this end, that the interests of the workers be protected
as fully as possible. To accomplish this purpose she holds that
the laws and the authority of the State, within reasonable limits,
ought to be obeyed. 3.
For the teaching of Christ joins, as it were, earth with heaven,
in that it embraces the whole man, namely, his soul and body, intel
lect and will, and bids him to lift up his mind from the changing
conditions of human existence to that heavenly country where he
will one day enjoy unending happiness and peace. 4.
It is no wonder, then, that the Catholic Church, instructed by Christ
and fulfilling his commands, has for two thousand years, from the
ministry of the early deacons to the present time, tenaciously held
aloft the torch of charity not only by her teaching but also by
her widespread example that charity which, by combining in a fitting
manner the precepts and the practice of mutual love, puts into effect
in a wonderful way this twofold commandment of giving, wherein is
contained the full social teaching and action of the Church. 5.
In light of the sacred teaching of the Second Vatican Council, the
Church thus appears before us as the social subject of responsibility
for divine truth. With deep emotion we hear Christ himself saying:
The word which you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me
(Jn 14:24).... Therefore, it is required, when the Church professes
and teaches the faith, that she should adhere strictly to di vine
truth (Dei Verbum, nn. 5, 10, 21), and should translate it into
living attitudes of obedience in harmony with reason (cf. Dei Filius,
chap. 3). 6.
In particular, as the Council affirms, the task of authenti cally
interpreting the word of God, whether in its written form or in
that of Tradition, has been entrusted only to those charged with
the Church's living Magisterium, whose authority is exercised in
the name of Jesus Christ (Dei Verbum, n. 10). The Church, in her
life and teaching, is thus revealed as the pillar and bulwark of
the truth (1Tm 3:15), including the truth regarding moral action.
Indeed, the Church has the right always and everywhere to proclaim
moral principles, even in respect of the social order, and to make
judgments about any human matter in so far as this is required by
fundamental human rights or the salvation of souls (Code of Canon
Law, Canon 747, n. 2). Precisely on the questions frequently debated
in moral theology today and with regard to which new tendencies
and theories have developed, the Magisterium, in fidelity to Jesus
Christ and in continuity with the Church's Tradition, senses more
urgently the duty to offer its own discernment and teaching, in
order to help man in his journey toward truth and freedom. 7.
Coming forth from the eternal Father's love, founded in time by
Christ the Redeemer and made one in the Holy Spirit, the Church
has a saving and an eschatological purpose that can be fully attained
only in the future world. But she is already present in this world,
and is composed of men, that is, of members of the earthly city
who have a call to form the family of God's children during the
present history of the human race, and to keep increasing it until
the Lord returns. United on behalf of heavenly values and enriched
by them, this family has been constituted and structured as a society
in this world (cf. Eph 1:3, 5:6, 13 14, 23) by Christ, and is equipped
by appropriate means for visible and social union. Thus the Church,
at once a visible association and a spiritual community (LG, n.
8), goes forward together with humanity and experiences the same
earthly lot that the world does. She serves as a leaven and as a
kind of soul for human society for its renewal in Christ and transformation
into God's family. 8.
The teaching and spreading of her social doctrine are part of the
Church's evangelizing mission. Since it is a doctrine aimed at guiding
people's behavior, it consequently gives rise to a `commitment to
justice,' according to each individual's role, vocation, and circumstances.
The condemnation of evils and injustices is also part of that ministry
of evangelization in the social field, which is an aspect of the
Church's prophetic role. But it should be made clear that proclamation
is always more important than condemnation, and the latter cannot
ignore the former, which gives it true solidity and the force of
higher motivation. 9.
We profess our faith that the Kingdom of God, begun here below in
the Church of Christ, is not of this world, whose form is passing
away, and that its own growth cannot be confused with the progress
of civilization, of science and of human technology, but that it
consists in knowing ever more deeply the unfathomable riches of
Christ, to hope ever more strongly in things eternal, to respond
ever more ardently to the love of God, to spread ever more widely
grace and holiness among men. But it is this very same love that
makes the Church constantly concerned for the true temporal good
of mankind as well. Never ceasing to recall to her children that
they have no lasting dwelling here on earth, she urges them also
to con tribute, each according to his own vocation and means, to
the wel fare of their earthly city, to promote justice, peace and
brotherhood among men, to lavish their assistance on their brothers,
especially on the poor and the most dispirited (cf. Libertatis Conscientia,
Conclusion). 10.
Since it has been entrusted to the Church to reveal the mys tery
of God, Who is the ultimate goal of man, she opens up to man at
the same time the meaning of his own existence, that is, the inner
most truth about himself. The Church knows that only God, Whom she
serves, meets the deepest longings of the human heart, which is
never fully satisfied by what this world has to offer. 11.
From this source the Church, equipped with the gifts of its Founder
and faithfully guarding His precepts of charity, humility, and self
sacrifice, receives the mission to proclaim and to spread among
all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God and to be, on earth,
the initial budding forth of that kingdom. While it slowly grows,
the Church strains toward the completed Kingdom and, with all its
strength, hopes and desires to be united in glory with its King. 12.
As we know, the Church does not exist in isolation from the world.
It lives in the world, and its members are consequently influenced
and guided by the world. They imbibe its culture, are subject to
its laws and adopt its customs. This intimate contact with the world
is continually creating problems for the Church, and at the present
time these problems are extremely acute. The Christian life, as
encouraged and preserved by the Church, must resist every possible
source of deception, contamination, or restriction of its freedom.
It must guard against these things as it would guard against contamination
by error or evil. Yet at the same time it must not only adapt itself
to the forms of thought and living which a temporal environment
induces, one might almost say im poses, on it provided, of course,
such forms are not incompatible with the basic principles of its
religious and moral teaching but it must also strive to approach
these forms and to correct, ennoble, encourage, and sanctify them. 13.
The Church offers mankind the Gospel, that prophetic message which
responds to the needs and aspirations of the human heart and always
remains `Good News.' The Church cannot fail to proclaim that Jesus
came to reveal the face of God and to merit salvation for all humanity
by his cross and resurrection. 14.
All things human are our concern. We share with the whole of the
human race a common nature, a common life, with all its gifts and
all its problems. We are ready to play our part in this primary,
universal society, to acknowledge the insistent demands of its fundamental
needs, and to applaud the new and often sublime expressions of its
genius. But there are moral values of the utmost importance which
we have to offer it. These are of advantage to everyone. We root
them firmly in the consciences of men. Wherever men are striving
to understand themselves and the world, we are able to communicate
with them.
III. The Church's Social Message 15.
The social concern of the Church, directed toward an authentic development
of man and society that would respect and pro mote all the dimensions
of the human person, has always expressed itself in the most varied
ways. In recent years, one of the special means of intervention
has been the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiffs which, beginning
with the encyclical Rerum Novarum of Leo XIII as a point of reference,
has frequently dealt with the question and has sometimes made the
dates of publication of the various social documents coincide with
the anniversaries of that first document. The Popes have not failed
to throw fresh light by means of those messages upon new aspects
of the social doctrine of the Church. As a result, this doctrine,
beginning with the outstanding contribution of Leo XIII and enriched
by the successive contributions of the Magisterium, has now become
an updated doctrinal `corpus.' It builds up gradually, as the Church,
in the fullness of the word revealed by Christ Jesus (cf. Dei Verbum,
n. 4) and with the assistance of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 14:16,
26; 16:13 15), reads events as they unfold in the course of history.
She thus seeks to lead people to respond, with the support also
of rational reflection and of the human sci ences, to their vocation
as responsible builders of earthly society. 16.
Amid the disturbances and uncertainties of the present hour, the
Church has a specific message to proclaim and a support to give
to men in their efforts to take in hand and give direction to their
futures. Since the period in which the encyclical Rerum Novarum
denounced in a forceful and imperative manner the scandal of the
condition of the workers in the nascent industrial society, historical
evolution has led to an awareness of other dimensions and other
ap plications of social justice. The encyclicals Quadragesimo Anno
and Mater et Magistra already noted this fact. The recent Council
for its part took care to point them out, in particular in the Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et Spes. We ourselves have already continued
these lines of thought in our encyclical Populorum Progressio, Today,
we said, the principal fact that we must all recognize is that the
social question has become worldwide (PP, n. 3). A renewed con sciousness
of the demands of the gospel makes it the Church's duty to put herself
at the service of all, to help them grasp their serious problem
in all its dimensions, and to convince them that solidarity in actions
at this turning point in human history is a matter of urgency. 17.
Christian revelation ... promotes deeper understanding of the laws
of social living (GS, n. 23). The Church receives from the Gospel
the full revelation of the truth about man. When she fulfills her
mission of proclaiming the Gospel, she bears witness to man, in
the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion
of persons. She teaches him the demands of justice and peace in
conformity with divine wisdom. 18.
The social doctrine of the Church, which proposes a set of principles
for reflection, criteria for judgment and directives for action
is addressed in the first place to members of the Church. It is
essential that the faithful engaged in human promotion should have
a firm grasp of this precious body of teaching and make it an integral
part of their evangelizing mission.... Christian leaders in the
Church and society, and especially lay men and women with responsibilities
in public life, need to be well formed in this teaching so that
they can inspire and vivify civil society and its structures with
the leaven of the Gospel. 19.
The situation today points to an ever increasing urgency for a doctrinal
formation of the lay faithful, not simply in a better under standing
which is natural to faith's dynamism, but also in enabling them
`to give a reason for their hoping' in view of the world and its
grave and complex problems.... This is especially true for the lay
faithful who have responsibilities in various fields of society
and public life. Above all, it is indispensable that they have a
more exact knowledge and this demands a more widespread and precise
presentation of the Church's social doctrine, as repeatedly stressed
by the Synod Fathers in their presentations. 20.
True to the teaching and example of her divine Founder, Who cited
the preaching of the Gospel to the poor as a sign of His mission
(cf. Lk 7:22), the Church has never failed to foster the human progress
of the nations to which she brings faith in Christ. 21.
The Church shares with the people of our time this profound and
ardent desire for a life which is just in every aspect, nor does
she fail to examine the various aspects of the sort of justice that
the life of people and society demands. This is confirmed by the
field of Catholic social doctrine, greatly developed in the course
of the last century. On the lines of this teaching proceed the education
and formation of human consciences in the spirit of justice, and
also of the apostolate of the laity, which are developing in precisely
this spirit. And yet, it would be difficult not to notice that very
often programs which start from the idea of justice and which ought
to assist its fulfillment among individuals, groups and human socities,
in practice suffer from distortions. 22.
If, as We said, the Church realizes what is God's will in its regard,
it will gain for itself a great store of energy, and in addition
will conceive the need for pouring out this energy in the service
of all men. It will have a clear awareness of a mission received
from God, of a message to be spread far and wide. Here lies the
source of our evangelical duty, our mandate to teach all nations,
and our apostolic en deavor to strive for the eternal salvation
of all men. 23.
To be sure, there is no single model for organizing the politics
and economics of human freedom; different cultures and different
historical experiences give rise to different institutional forms
of public life in a free and responsible society. 24.
In addition, the Church's social teaching has an important interdisciplinary
dimension. In order better to incarnate the one truth about man
in different and constantly changing social, economic and political
contexts, this teaching enters into dialogue with the various disciplines
concerned with man. It assimilates what these disciplines have to
contribute, and helps them to open themselves to a broader horizon,
aimed at serving the individual person who is acknowledged and loved
in the fullness of his or her vocation. Parallel with the interdisciplinary
aspect, mention should also be made of the practical and, as it
were, experiential dimension of this teaching, which is to be found
at the crossroads where Christian life and conscience come into
contact with the real world. This teaching is seen in the efforts
of individuals, families, people involved in cultural and social
life, as well as politicians and statesmen to give it a concrete
form and application in history.
IV. The Scope of the Church's Social Teaching 25.
The Church has no models to present; models that are real and truly
effective can only arise within the framework of different historical
situations, through the efforts of all those who responsibly confront
concrete problems in all their social, economic, political and cultural
aspects, as these interact with one another (cf. GS, n. 36; Octogesima
Adveniens, nn. 2 5). For such a task the Church offers her social
teaching as an indispensable and ideal orientation, a teaching which,
as already mentioned, recognizes the positive value of the market
and of enterprise, but which at the same time points out that these
must be oriented toward the common good. 26.
The Church's social teaching comprises a body of doctrine, which
is articulated as the Church interprets events in the course of
history, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, in the light of
the whole of what has been revealed by Jesus Christ (SRS, n. 1).
This teaching can be more easily accepted by men of good will; the
more the faith ful let themselves be guided by it. 27.
However, when it comes to reducing these teachings to action, it
sometimes happens that even sincere Catholic men have differing
views. When this occurs, they should take care to have and to show
mutual esteem and regard, and to explore the extent to which they
can work in cooperation among themselves. Thus they can in good
time accomplish what necessity required. Letthem also take great
care not to weaken their efforts in constant controversies. Nor
should they, under pretext of seeking what they think best, mean
while fail to do what they can and hence should do. 28.
The Church has no philosophy of her own, nor does she canonize any
one particular philosophy in preference to others. The underlying
reason for this reluctance is that, even when it engages theology,
philosophy must remain faithful to its own principles and methods.
Otherwise there would be no guarantee that it would remain oriented
to truth and that it was moving toward truth by way of a process
governed by reason. A philosophy that did not proceed in the light
of reason according to its own principles and methods would serve
little purpose. At the deepest level, the autonomy that philoso
phy enjoys is rooted in the fact that reason is by its nature oriented
to truth and is equipped moreover with the means necessary to arrive
at truth. A philosophy conscious of this as its `constitutive status'
cannot but respect the demands and the data of revealed truth. 29.
The social doctrine of the Church developed in the nine teenth century
when the Gospel encountered modern industrial society with its new
structures for the production of consumer goods, its new concept
of society, the state, and authority, and its new forms of labor
and ownership. The development of the doctrine of the Church on
economic and social matters attests to the permanent value of the
Church's teaching at the same time as it attests to the true meaning
of her Tradition, always living and active (cf. CA, n. 3). 30.
The Church's social doctrine is not a `third way' between liberal
capitalism and Marxist collectivism, nor even a possible alternative
to other solutions less radically opposed to one another: rather,
it constitutes a category of its own. Nor is it an ideology, but
rather the accurate formulation of the results of a careful reflection
on the complex realities of human existence, in society and in the
international order, in the light of faith and of the Church's tradition.
Its main aim is to interpret these realities, determining their
conformity with or divergence from the lines of the Gospel teaching
on man and his vocation, a vocation that is at once earthly and
transcendent; its aim is thus to guide Christian behavior. It therefore
belongs to the field, not of ideology, but of theology and particularly
of moral theology. 31.
Certainly the Church was not given the commission to guide men to
a fleeting and perishable happiness but to that which is eternal.
Indeed, the Church holds that it is unlawful for her to mix with
out cause in these temporal concerns ; (Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio,
n. 65) however, she can in no wise renounce the duty God entrusted
to her to interpose her authority, not of course in matters of technique
for which she is neither suitably equipped nor endowed by office,
but in all things that are connected with the moral law. For as
to these, the deposit of truth that God committed to us and the
grave duty of disseminating and interpreting the whole moral law,
and of urging it in season and out of season, bring under and subject
to our supreme jurisdiction not only social order but economic activities
themselves. 32.
Today, the Church's social doctrine focuses especially on man as
he is involved in a complex network of relationships within modern
societies. The human sciences and philosophy are helpful for interpreting
man's central place within society and for enabling him to understand
himself better as a social being. However, man's true identity is
only fully revealed to him through faith, and it is precisely from
faith that the Church's social teaching begins.
V. Evangelization and Church Social Teaching 33.
The `new evangelization,' which the modern world urgently needs
and which I have emphasized many times, must include amongits essential
elements a proclamation of the Church's social doctrine. As in the
days of Pope Leo XIII, this doctrine is still suitable for indicating
the right way to respond to the great challenges of today, when
ideologies are being increasingly discredited. Now, as then, we
need to repeat that there can be no genuine solution of the `social
question' apart from the Gospel, and that the `new things' can find
in the Gospel the context for their correct understanding and the
proper moral perspective for judgment on them. 34.
What counts, here as in every area of Christian life, is the confidence
that comes from faith, from the certainty that it is not we who
are the principal agents of the Church's mission, but Jesus Christ
and his Spirit. We are only co workers, and when we have done all
that we can, we must say: We are unworthy servants; we have only
done our duty (Lk 17:10). 35.
I now wish to propose a `rereading' of Pope Leo's encyclical by
issuing an invitation to `look back' at the text itself in order
to discover anew the richness of the fundamental principles which
it formulated for dealing with the question of the condition of
workers.... A rereading of this kind will not only confirm the permanent
value of such teaching, but will also manifest the true meaning
of the Church's Tradition which, being ever living and vital, builds
upon the foundation laid by our fathers in the faith, and particularly
upon what the Apostles passed down to the Church (St. Irenaeus,
Adversus Haereses, I, 10) in the name of Jesus Christ, who is her
irreplaceable foundation (cf. 1 Cor 3:11). 36.
The presentation of the Gospel message is not an optional contribution
for the Church. It is the duty incumbent on her by the command of
the Lord Jesus, so that people can believe and be saved. This message
is indeed necessary. It is unique. It cannot be replaced. 37.
We have been sent. For us, being at the service of life is not a
boast but rather a duty, born of our awareness of being God's own
people, that we may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called
us out of darkness into his marvellous light (cf. 1 Pt 2:9). On
our journey we are guided and sustained by the law of love: a love
which has as its source and model the Son of God made man, who by
dying gave life to the world (cf. Roman Missal, Prayer Before Communion).
We have been sent as a people. Everyone has an obligation to be
at the service of life. This is a properly `ecclesial' responsibility,
which requires concerted and generous action by all the members
and by all sectors of the Christian community. This community commitment
does not, however, eliminate or lessen the responsibility of each
individual, called by the Lord to become the neighbour of everyone:
Go and do likewise (Lk 10:37). 38.
Together we all sense our duty to preach the Gospel of life, to
celebrate it in the Liturgy and in our whole existence, and to serve
it with the various programs and structures which support and promote
life.
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